The company rolling out Labor’s national broadband network has used inaccurate data to plan and build the wireless network meant to supply high-speed broadband to over 520,000 homes and businesses.

Minutes from an
NBN Co
board meeting held in March obtained by The Australian Financial Review under Freedom of Information laws reveal a 27 per cent shortfall between the number of premises NBN Co forecast it would connect as part of its 2012 Corporate Plan and the actual number of premises in the targeted areas.

The Corporate Plan is the key document upon which the NBN is built. It details the targets and finances of the NBN all the way through to its completion date of 2021. The inaccuracies cast doubt on NBN Co’s overall forecasts for the $1.1 billion wireless rollout. Ericsson is contracted to complete it by 2015.

But NBN Co’s board minutes show the company used the geocoded national address file (G-NAF) database to make its modelling and predictions. G-NAF is a database of 13.2 million Australian addresses and NBN Co has previously admitted it is often highly inaccurate.

“The board confirmed the project’s June 2013 Corporate Plan target was to pass 70,000," the board minutes state. “After ‘cleansing’ the G-NAF data this reduced to approximately 51,000 [by] June 2013. An outcome in the range of 35,000 to 40,000 is likely."

Independent telecommunications analyst
Chris Coughlan
has previously helped build mobile networks in a range of countries. He said it was dangerous for NBN Co to rely so heavily on an address database.

“If they’re building towers and finding hills blocking the way it means they’ve got poor data," he said.

“An address database is absolutely no use if you’re designing a wireless network because you need geographical data that shows elevation to be able to forecast blackspots and things like that.

“Most of the work is done at the desktop before you get out into the field."

Mr Coughlan’s comments echo those made by PSMA chief executive
Dan Paull
, who defended his company’s data when its lack of accuracy was criticised by NBN Co. “Our data is not fit for the purpose that NBN needs it for," he said at the time. So what they’re trying to do is make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. And when Mike [Quigley] says that this data has problems with it he’s right – but only for the purposes he’s using it for."

The Coalition could also face the same problems if it wins government at the upcoming federal elections because it has pledged to maintain the wireless contract.